The Anima [completed]

34.

34.

Everything was black. When I finally pried my dry eyes open, it was just as dark as the curtain behind my eyelids. My body was still bound, my cheek cold against the hard tile of the throne room, my limbs refusing to respond. My tongue was numb and my mind shrouded in fog, a sensation mimicking the effects of local anaesthetic.

I was alone. There were no sounds, not even a brief hitch of a breath or the shuffle of light feet could be heard. It was as if the building had been cleared out completely. All furniture was gone, or if it was there, I could not see it in through the darkness. Where light once refracted off the walls, there was an absence of all brightness.

Frantically, my eyes attempted to search the room, but my head would not move off the floor. The space I could monitor was so insignificant that it began to feel like the walls, the same walls I could not see or feel, were closing in. My breathing caught, the air escaping rapidly from my lungs as I began to panic. But my body was paralysed, and as much as I tried to draw the air back in, my diaphragm was not responding. I spluttered and coughed, all the while being completely still. My eyes strained as the oxygen was pulled from my blood to support my vital organs, bulging from their socket.

The pain was like liquid fire, spreading through my body like my blood was gunpowder. My blood thinned, and just as the pain became so great that my body felt as if it were eating itself, it stopped.

Light flooded in from an open door, reflecting off the tiled walls to illuminate the large throne that sat in the centre of the room. Perched atop it, a wicked smile on her face, was my doppelgänger. I gasped, bringing in a large and gulping breath as the feeling returned to the upper half of my body. As I wretched on the floor, my legs dragging behind me, the Elder rushed into the room, a bundle in his hands.

"Forgive me," He rushed as Ly gave him a serious side eye. I did not speak, my body functions jarred by a lack of oxygen, but I could assume that his sudden entrance was unexpected, "but it's ready."

He presented the bundle in his hands, his head bowed before his ruler. Ly plucked it from his hands eagerly, throwing the cloth wrapping onto the floor and extracting the object in one swift motion. In her hands she clutched a long curved blade. It was black, almost impossible to see from my position on the floor, and seemed to be void of jewels or any speciality. None the less, it was frighteningly sharp, that much was clear as the tip glinted like a bright star. I knew it as soon as I saw it; that was the blade meant to take my life.

Ly held her hand out expectantly and the elder placed a small bottle in her hand.

"This is it then?" She examined the tiny bottle, tipping it upside down.

"Yes. It will strip all power when applied, so you wont have to use the spell anymore. How long it lasts, however, none can tell."

"Thank you, Blake. That will be all."

The elder's gaze passed over my crippled body and for a moment I thought he might say something. But, as he was no longer needed, he slunk back into the shadows and closed the door that had allowed light into the room. Once again, there was nothing but darkness. Then, with a snap of her fingers, my doppelgänger lit the room, a globe of light hovering in the centre of the room.

For the first time I saw a glint of red at the hollow of her throat. The blood stone glinted, held up perfectly like a thin black cord.

I attempted to draw forth the gold light at my core. There was no response. The light quivered like a small child scolded by its mother, shrunken into the corner. But whatever bound that held me wouldn't last much longer; such was clear by the vile of poison that my doppelgänger clutched eagerly. If I could somehow avoid ingesting it, I might have a chance at getting away and finding Beast, Alvar and Lucius. If I could somehow get my hands on both the poison and the blade, I might stand a chance to face Ly alone. I just needed to stall enough for my legs to regain feeling.